Erekat: PLO to ask Security Council for settlement censure JERICHO (Ma’an) — PLO official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that Palestinian leaders are examining ways to secure a resolution from the UN Security Council condemning Israeli settlement building, after Israel gave legal sanction to three settler outposts. In an interview with official PA radio Voice of Palestine, Erekat called on the Israeli government to choose between peace and settlement expansion, warning that sanctioning more settlements on Palestinian land will kill the two-state solution.link to www.maannews.net

Jordan condemns Israeli settlement decision Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Tuesday denounced Israel’s decision to legalize three settler outposts in the West Bank, during talks with US envoy David Hale. Jordan, which has a 1994 peace deal with the Jewish state, “condemns Israeli settlement activities as well as its unilateral measures,” Judeh said at the meeting with Hale, state-run Petra news agency reported. The three outposts will now join the 120 settlements sanctioned by Israel dotted across the occupied West Bank that are home to more than 342,000 people.link to english.al-akhbar.com

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli military vehicles crossed into the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, witnesses told Ma’an. Four tanks and two bulldozers entered Gaza east of Beit Hanoun, and dug up lands in the border area, they said. Eyewitnesses reported gunshots heard in the area. An Israeli military spokeswoman said forces were conducting “routine activity” in the area.

Israeli authorities demolish Bethlehem shed BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities demolished an agricultural shed near Bethlehem early Tuesday, a local committee said. Bulldozers tore down the 150-meter-squared shed in Um Al-Rokba at the entrance of Al-Khader town, local committee against the wall coordinator Ahmad Salah said. Israel says the shed’s owner Mahmoud Mustafa Omran Salah did not receive an Israeli permit for the structure, he added. Israel frequently demolishes homes and infrastructure built without permission in Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank. Residents, rights groups and the UN point out that it nearly all Palestinian applications for building permits are denied.link to www.maannews.net

Israel to close Allenby Bridge for holiday JERICHO (Ma’an) — Israel will close the border between the West Bank and Jordan on Wednesday for an Israeli holiday, crossing officials said Tuesday. The Allenby Bridge terminal will be closed from 5 p.m. Wednesday until Sunday, the crossings administration said in a statement. Ambulances will be allowed to cross until 6 p.m. Wednesday, the statement said. Israel is celebrating the 64th anniversary of its establishment on Thursday. On Sunday, Jews mark Shavuot, the day commemorating God giving the Torah on Mount Sinai. The Allenby Bridge crossing is the only exit point for most Palestinians in the West Bank. There is no airport in the West Bank and most Palestinians are not allowed to use Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, so residents of the West Bank must cross the Allenby Bridge and fly from Amman’s airport.

Um al-’Amad Update: April 21, 2012, David Shulman Several large families–among them, Ihrizat, Ihraini, and Abu Samra–belong to Um al-’Amad, perched on a high hill west of the desert and directly across from the drab and violent settlement of Otniel. In fact, Otniel sits on the Abu Samra family’s lands. Like all other settlements, Otniel has also drawn a wide perimeter fence around itself, effectively annexing another large chunk of Palestinian land; still worse, for the last thirteen years the settlers and soldiers have denied the Palestinians access to the relatively fertile grazing and agricultural land in the wadis just under the settlement. Israeli courts have confirmed Palestinian title to these lands in the wadis, but in itself this is by no means a promise of access. Quite the contrary: like in most places in south Hebron, we are faced with a hard micro-struggle for every inch.

Erasing Palestinian identity: The tale of al Ghasibiyya’s mosque Historical memory is a touchy subject for much of Israel’s highly nationalistic population. Many critics, such as Dr. Yousef Natsheh, believe the government “uses history for political ends.” Dr. Natsheh, who works in the Islamic archaeology department at al Aqsa Mosque, contends that the state is “trying to marginalise any other history [than their own],” which he describes as “exclusive… focusing on certain areas and neglecting others.” “There is a general attempt in Israel to erase Palestinian history,” agrees Oren Yiftachel, a scholar of Israeli ethnocentrism at Ben Gurion University. The state’s founding myth of conquest and independence has been meticulously trimmed of incriminating narratives, to be inculcated in the population from an early age. The memory of those who were on the wrong end of 1948’s campaign of dispossession, however, has been – to a certain extent – silenced by the still unfinished project of cultural and historical denial. When Israel was created atop the ruins of Palestinian society in 1948, one of the main tasks the new leaders set out to accomplish was erasing ties to and evidence of the place’s culture and history. This was done at the outset by getting rid of physical reminders of both the present and the past – 600 villages were destroyed to ensure that refugees (including internal refugees) could not return.

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Palestinian factions on Sunday organized a protest at UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City to coincide with a strike by the agency’s employees. At a press conference, Palestinian Peoples’ Party official Walid al-Awad said national and Islamist factions had held an emergency meeting “after UNRWA’s presidency sent a commission to question a number of the organizations’ employees in Gaza City.”

The Prisoners In Gaza: Their Blackout Nightmare, Ralph Nader Have you heard much lately about the 1.5 million Palestinians illegally imprisoned by the Israeli government in the world’s largest open-air Gulag? Their dire living conditions, worsened by a selective Israeli siege limiting the importation of necessities of life – medical items, food, water, building materials, and fuel to list a few – has resulted in an 80 percent unemployment rate and widespread suffering from unlawful punishment, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment in Israeli jails.link to palestinechronicle.com Violence / Aggression / Threats

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot two people along the border with Egypt on Monday, army officials said. Soliders fired at the pair in a vehicle at the border after they didn’t stop on instruction, a military statement said. “A positive hit was identified and the suspects were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital for medical treatment,” it added.

Eight Children Injured By Israeli Settlers Palestinian medical sources reported Monday that eight school children were injured when a group of extremist Israeli settlers of the illegal Yitzhar settlement, attacked them in Orif village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Israel ready to strike Iran, Lebanon, Gaza if ordered, says military chief Israeli forces are carrying out more special operations beyond the country’s borders and will be ready to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, Gaza and Lebanon if ordered, the chief-of-staff said in an interview on Sunday. In an extract from an interview with the top-selling Yediot Aharanot daily, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said that 2012 would be a critical year in efforts to halt what Israel and much of the international community believe is an Iranian nuclear arms program. “We think that a nuclear Iran is a very bad thing, which the world needs to stop and which Israel needs to stop – and we are planning accordingly,” Gantz said.link to english.alarabiya.net

Beit Ommar Resident Arrested On His Way To University On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, Israeli soldiers arrested 21-year-old Nabil Mahmoud Salem Al-Alamy at about 9am at the entrance of Beit Ommar. Nabil is a student at Ahlia Univerisity in Bethlehem, and was on his way to the university when he was arrested. Beit Ommar residents face daily harassment and arrests from the soldiers at the entrance of the town, disrupting their daily life and interfering with their ability to go to school, work, and other places.

On April 23, 2012, at about 3:00 am, Israeli soldiers broke into the house of Ahmad Abu Hashem, a member of the Popular Committee of Beit Ommar, for the second time in a week. This time they arrested his 15-year-old son Mohamad Ahmad Khalil Abu Hashem. In total, four people were arrested during the raid last night. Three of them are under the age of 18. Those arrested were:

140 Detainees Moved From Majeddo Prison The International Tadamun (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights reported that the Israeli Prison Administration moved approximately 140 Palestinian hunger-striking detainees from the Majeddo prison to an undisclosed location; most of the detainees are members of Hamas and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).link to www.imemc.org

The weekly demonstration against the wall, in Bil’in West of Ramallah continued as it always does for the last 7 years last Friday; although this time there was a special addition to the march and demo at the wall. Ashraf Abu Rahmah who was released earlier in the week joined the local citizens of Bil’in and other International activists. Ashraf Abu Rahmah who was previously detained for 6 months at Ofer prison waved his Palestinian flag proudly through the streets of Bil’in alongside many family and friends in solidarity with the prisoners currently in detention.

National Demonstration: March for the Hunger Strikers – March for Palestine Assemble at Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, *Please invite friends and share*ASSEMBLE 12 Noon at Charlotte Square to March to the Scottish Parliament.*Click here ( link to tinyurl.com ) for Transport from Glasgow* Solidarity with the Palestinian Hunger Strikers! Free Palestine! Boycott Israel!Last week on Palestinian prisoners day, over 1350 Palestinians prisoners embarked on a mass indefinite hunger strike to protest the horrific conditions they face in Israeli jails. They have followed the lead of 10 other Palestinians detainees who are currently on indefinite hunger strike against their internment without charge. Two of them, Bilal Diab, 27, and Thaer Halahla, 34, have now been refusing food for over 55 days, and are in imminent danger of death with prisoner rights group Adameer describing their condition as “rapidly deteriorating”In Glasgow, hundreds of people have demonstrated at the BBC Scotland HQ protesting the media blackout on the continuing situation with the prisoners. The building was also occupied by protesters as mainstream media institutions are highlighting their complicity in Israel’s crimes through their silence on the issue.

There are growing concerns across the Palestinian territories for the life of detainee, Hasan Al Safadi, who has now passed 52 days on hunger strike. Mr Al Safadi is protesting against his continued detention, without any charge, under Israel’s administrative detention law. He was arrested on 28 June 2007. Al Safadi was detained on several occasions prior to his latest detention. In 1995 he was detained for a year, in 2002 he served another nine months, and in 2004 he served 33 months, all in administration detention. Al Safadi’s brother, Fareed, was killed by the Israeli forces in 1996. All his remaining brothers, Fuad, Salih and Mamun, have also been detained and wounded by Israeli soldiers. His sister, Naylali, was detained for 18 months. She is the wife of Obada Bilal, one of the prisoners freed in the recent exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

10th Palestinians In Europe Conference To Kick Off Next Week The 10th Palestinians in Europe Conference is due to begin next week as preparations completed. The event is organized by the General Secretariat of the Palestinians in Europe Conference, The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) and the Palestinian Forum in Denmark. It will take place on Saturday, 28th, April 2012 in Denmark, Copenhagen. The conference is titled “Our Spring blossoms our Return”

Harvard Israel conference presents ‘innovation’ to hide occupation, Giacomo Bagarella As a response to the highly successful One State Conference at Harvard held last month, a number of Harvard undergraduate and graduate students recently organized the Israel Conference. According to its website and an op-ed by the conference’s organizers, the conference is meant to showcase Israel’s innovation – in a way that is palatable to all parties involved in activism around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Speakers at the conference included Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson, Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer, the author of the book “Start-Up Nation” Dan Senor, Dennis Ross and a number of other panelists and entrepreneurs.Unfortunately, the Israel Conference brought to campus individuals whose disregard for international law raises questions regarding the conference’s dubious educational quality.http://mondoweiss.net

Bernard-Henri Lévy, a friend to Israel The following is an excerpt from the brilliant new take-down of famed French “philosopher” Bernard Henri-Lévy by Jade Lindgaard and Xavier de la Porte. Titled The Impostor: BHL in Wonderland, the book is part of the recently inaugurated Verso Counterblasts series.

Israeli school curriculum in Arabic This is from an Arabic textbook in the Zionist entity. It reads: “Dina: The state has built our Arab cities and towns and improved it a great deal. Ahmad: And that is why it decorated schools, shops, and schools with electricity. Khalid: And old people and children benefited from national insurance. All: Then let us all sing the national anthem”. I really never ever thought I would find worse crude propaganda than in Albania under Enver Hoxa until I read this.link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Report: Haniyeh to lead Hamas politburo in Gaza TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh won elections to lead the party’s political office in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Tuesday. Hamas officials told the newspaper the party elected its 77-member advisory council in Gaza and 15-member politburo in recent weeks. The paper said Hamas moderates Razi Hamed, Ahmed Yousef, and Salah al-Bardawil were not elected, while other leaders Yehia Sanwar, Khalil al-Hayeh, Nizar Awdallah, and Mahmoud Zahhar made the list. Imad al-Alami, formerly Damascus-based and recently returned to Cairo, was elected as Haniyeh’s deputy, Haaretz reported. Meanwhile a Hamas official denied the report, saying occasional leaks intend to push the party to release the names of the leaders.

Condemning Nazi Comparisons and the Instant Israelification of Elie Wiesel, Nima Shirazi In an interview with the Israeli daily Globes, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel rejected the constant comparisons and conflations of Nazi Germany with Iran, calling such efforts to drawn analogies to the Holocaust “unacceptable and impossible,” and also noted, “For example, there are the haredim (ultra-orthodox), who put yellow stars on their children in protests – and in Israel of all places. What have we come to?” Wiesel is of the opinion that “Iran is a danger, but to claim that it is creating a second Auschwitz? I compare nothing to the Holocaust.”link to www.wideasleepinamerica.com

THE PROSPECTS for peace are poor in the Holy Land of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Mahdi Abdul Hadi, head of an East Jerusalem think tank, has told The Irish Times that Palestinians are paralysed. The society, he says, “is divided into four groups: the business elite, which has reached an accommodation” with Israel; the security establishment, which co-operates with and provides “100 per cent security” for Israel; the youth (15-40 years), which is 60 per cent of the populace and which is looking for an effective way to resist the occupation; and Muslim fundamentalists, who are “not sleeping but keep an open eye to fill the vacuum” when current ruling elites are ousted.

Wendy Pearlman’s new book describes how the historical organizational structures of the Palestinian liberation struggle help to determine the methods of resistance against the British, the Jordanians and the Israelis.

Calls for the boycott of Israel’s cultural ambassadors just won’t go away. Now London’s Globe Theatre is being criticised for its invitation to Israel’s Habima Theatre, the latter having performed in Israel’s illegal settlements. Prominent arts figures such as Mike Leigh, Emma Thompson, Jonathan Miller, and Mark Rylance, the Globe’s founding artistic director, have publicly called for the theatre to cancel Habima’s appearance. Meanwhile Günter Grass, author of the classic anti-Nazi novel The Tin Drum, created a storm with his poem Was gesagt werden muss (What must be said), which seeks to free Germans from the ancestral guilt that Israel exploits to secure their obedience. An outraged headline in the Jewish Chronicle equated the boycott call with Nazi book-burning, and Israeli politicians smeared Grass as a Nazi for his conscription into the Waffen-SS, which German youths ‘joined’ to stay alive.

Crackdowns at funeral of Bahraini activist Protesters taking part in the funeral in Bahrain of a man shot dead by security forces clashed with police on Monday in the village of Bilad al-Qadim, witnesses said. Hundreds took part in the funeral of 36-year-old Salah Abbas Habib who was found dead in a village on Saturday, after the opposition said police “brutally” dispersed a protest there and shot him, witnesses said. Security forces on Monday fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters who hurled petrol bombs and stones at policemen. No casualties were reported.link to english.al-akhbar.com

Bahrain court delays ‘toying with hunger striker’s life’ The postponement of the appeals trial for 14 jailed opposition activists is toying with the life of prominent activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for 75 days in prison, Amnesty International said. In a hearing on Monday lasting just a few minutes, the Court of Cassation in Manama, Bahrain postponed the appeal until 30 April, apparently without giving any reason for the decision. This is the second postponement since the court started considering the case on 2 April. The postponement comes after a protester died over the weekend during mass street demonstrations as the island kingdom hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix – an investigation into his death has been opened.link to www.amnesty.org

Bahrain trial delay a “death sentence” for Al-Khawaja The daughter of a Bahraini hunger striker has condemned the decision to delay her father’s court ruling by a week, likening it to a “death sentence.” Jailed human rights leader Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has been on hunger strike for 74 days and doctors have said he is in serious danger of organ failure. On Monday a court postponed for a week the final verdict in his appeal, along with 21 other pro-democracy activists convicted of plotting to overthrow the kingdom’s rulers. The activists helped organize mass rallies in 2011 calling for democratic reform.link to english.al-akhbar.com

Cars race in Bahrain Grand Prix as protesters march in villages Far from the well-protected Grand Prix race course in Manama, antigovernment protesters are met by tear gas rounds. CAIRO — Cars raced and protests echoed across the island kingdom of Bahrain on Sunday as the embattled royal family gambled on the Formula One Grand Prix to portray stability after more than a year of rebellion, mass arrests and hunger strikes.link to feeds.latimes.com

Bahrain Grand Prix goes ahead after crackdown Bahrain’s controversial Formula One Grand Prix went ahead despite protests on Sunday after a week in which opposition activists had urged F1 chiefs to abandon the desert race. King Hamad was among 10,500 spectators on the main grandstand and a smaller audience watched from other platforms as double world champion 24-year-old Sebastian Vettel of Germany led from start to finish.

Night of Bahrain Grand Prix shaping up to be ‘tense’ Al Jazeera’s special correspondent in Bahrain, who cannot be named for security reasons, reports that the situation in the villages outside Manama, the evening following the Bahrain Grand Prix “is already shaping up to be a tense night”. Our correspondent also reports on a press conference organised by the al Wefaq party with the family of Salah Abbas Habib, the protester whose body had been found on a rooftop on the eve of the race.link to www.youtube.com

Bahrain Grand Prix exposes kingdom’s deep divisions The Bahrain Grand Prix was an opportunity for the kingdom to demonstrate all is well after last year’s uprising, but the weekend race instead highlighted deep divisions between the ruling Sunni dynasty and the Shiite majority.

At last Bahrain has found the friends it deserves It’s not quite a Conrad novel, but in John Yates and Bernie Ecclestone the charming al-Khalifas have met their match. For all the fact that it’s taking place in Abroad, what an uncomfortably British production the Bahrain Grand Prix has turned out to be. The whole thing echoes tales of forgotten outposts of the British empire, where a rogue commandant runs amok, assisted by conspiratorial officials banished there after various disgraces back in Blighty. Were the story in the hands of a novelistic genius like Joseph Conrad, our despotic rogue and his factotum might be some renegade captain from the East India Company and his amoral manager. But modern life has a way of failing to live up to fiction, which is why we’ve got Bernie Ecclestone and John Yates.link to www.guardian.co.uk

Bernie Ecclestone has followed the money and turned Formula One into a pariah sport ‘The world can see through the smokescreen put up by motor racing’s master of sophistry and self-interest’. News of the death of a protester in Bahrain, reported just before 24 Formula One cars set off for their qualifying session for grand prix, drowned the noise of engines everywhere except inside the paddock at the Sakhir circuit, where the drivers and engineers maintained their concentration on settling the order of the starting grid. In the view of Sebastian Vettel, the reigning world champion, they were getting back to what really mattered. Much of the outside world, however, had long since lost interest in listening to commentators discussing tyre temperatures and drag-reduction.link to www.guardian.co.uk

subdued “The Obama administration has been subdued regarding the repression of protesters in Bahrain, home to the Navy’s Fifth Fleet that patrols the Persian Gulf. The administration’s approach has not gone unnoticed by rights activists or the authorities in Iran, which has portrayed the gentle American treatment of the Khalifa monarchy as part of a broader effort to align with other Sunni Arab governments, particularly Saudi Arabia.”link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Egypt

Egypt offers to sell Israel gas at new priceA senior Egyptian minister said on Monday her country was ready to resume gas exports to Israel at a new price, only hours after it was announced the country had scrapped a long-term contract. International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga said the “Egyptian side had no objections to reaching a new contract with new conditions and a new price,” the official MENA news agency reported. Egypt annulled the contract last Thursday, saying Israel had not met the conditions of a gas export accord signed in 2005.link to english.al-akhbar.com

link to www.aljazeera.comZionist self-delusions: Zionist Titanic “Israel on Monday rushed to downplay the significance of Egypt cancelling its gas export deal with the Jewish state, casting it as a “commercial dispute” with no impact on their diplomatic ties. “The deal to supply gas is not part of the peace deal, but it is an important commercial deal that was an expression of the stable ties between the states,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli public radio in an interview from Baku. “The unilateral cancellation of the deal is not a good sign, and we hope that this dispute will be resolved like any other commercial dispute, without taking it to the political realm,” he said.” The Zionist Titanic would be sinking and Zionist leaders would be saying: 1) no, we are not sinking. It is just wet on board (and underboard). 2) no, we are not sinking. There is an earthquake on board and we will be fun. 3) No, we are not sinking, we are diving and we will float back to the surface in no time. 4) no, we are not sinking but someone is throwing water on us as a prank. 5) No, we are not sinking but I can’t breath. 6) No, we are not sinking but we seem to be dancing and jittering.link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Jordan says Egypt gas cuts cost Amman US$2 billion Energy-poor Jordan warned on Monday that cut-offs in unstable Egyptian gas supplies could cost the kingdom more than US$2 billion this year. “We are worried about the energy situation. Egypt’s gas supplies have become an unstable source,” Minister of Trade and Industry Sami Gammoh told a news conference. “We are doing our best and in all directions. We have received promises from Iraq and Gulf states to help cover our needs.”

Egypt’s Al-Nour Party declares its opposition to the siege from Gaza During a press conference held in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, 22 April, the head of Al-Nour, Egypt’s Islamist-Salafist party, asserted that his party rejects the blockade imposed on Gaza. “No human should be kept under siege and deprived of a decent life or opportunities in life”, said Emad El-Din Abdel Ghafour, whose party holds the second largest majority in the Egyptian parliament. Abdel Ghafour arrived in Gaza on Saturday, April 21 via the Rafah border crossing. During the press conference, he spoke of the Egyptian people’s enduring support for the Palestine Cause. “I left behind me all of Egypt longing to visit the Gaza Strip,” he said.link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

If the upcoming presidential elections are followed by a revisal, if not cancellation, of the peace treaty with Israel, the Foreign Minister expects that Israel will be a natural target for the regime to target a foreign country as an enemy and draw attention away from domestic problems.

Ex-PM banned from Egypt presidential poll Egypt’s ruling military junta ratified a law on Tuesday that will prevent former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq from running for president, state media reported. The law declares that senior political figures under the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak are unable to take up the role, disqualifying Shafiq from the contest. It was originally also expected to affect former spy chief Omar Suleiman, but he was disqualified earlier this month after failing to gather enough signatures to be a candidate.link to english.al-akhbar.com

Egyptian lawyer sentenced to 20 lashes in Saudi Arabia for ‘defaming the king’Egyptian lawyer, Ahmed El-Gizawy has been sentenced in absentia to one year in jail and 20 lashes, Monday, for “defaming” KIng Abdullah of Saudi Arabia during his visit to the gulf country to undertake the Islamic ritual “Umrah.” El-Gizawy is to receive the 20 lashes on Friday. The Egyptian lawyer was traveling with his family to Jeddah where he was detained on Tuesday, 17 April. El-Gizawy had filled legal cases calling for the release of Egyptians who are currently being held in Saudi Arabia’s prisons without court sentences. So far no official Egyptian government statement has been released commenting on the case.link to english.ahram.org.eg.

Iranian Spy Drone Mass-Production Would Cause Worst-Case Scenario COMMENTARY | Iran claims it has successfully reverse-engineered the American spy drone captured last year within the country’s borders, according to the Associated Press. As someone who studies politics, I am not very worried about Iran using this technology as much as I am concerned by the door this opens for the nation. The thought of Iran sharing this technology with other countries and terrorist organizations scares me the most.link to news.yahoo.comCarter warns against war with IranFormer US President Jimmy Carter warned against a possible war with Iran Monday as he decried his nation’s involvement in unjust conflicts at a summit of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Chicago.link to news.yahoo.com

Sajjad Jafari, “What Iran Will Do With US RQ-170 Sentinel Drone”Sajjad Jafari is an Iranian cartoonist. Cf. “The number of [scientific] publications from Iran has grown from just 736 in 1996 to 13,238 in 2008 — making it the fastest growing country in terms of numbers of scientific publications in the world. In August 2009, Iran announced a ‘comprehensive plan for science’ focused on higher education and stronger links between industry and academia. The establishment of a US$2.5 million centre for nanotechnology research is one of the products of this plan.link to mrzine.monthlyreview.org

Iraq

Kurds And Turks Uneasy About Maliki; 12 Iraqis Killed in Attacks At a news conference yesterday, Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani revealed his opposition to the sale of F-16 jets to Iraq by the United States. Neighboring Turkey has been openly apprehensive over Maliki’s “self-centered” behavior as well, causing Maliki to call Turkey a “hostile state.” Meanwhile, at least 12 Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded in the latest attacks.link to original.antiwar.com

DUBAI 23 April 2012 (IRIN) – It was 21 February 2006. The date is etched in Samia’s* mind. She was in her kitchen making tea for her brother’s family, who was visiting her at her home in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, when gunfire broke out in the sitting room.link to www.irinnews.org

Robert Fisk: Iraq’s road back from oblivion“Al-Qa’ida killed two of our men here two days ago,” the cop said. “Then they called us up to tell us the name of their operation – on a police radio!” We were standing in rebuilt Fallujah, where the police request all foreigners to call by for an escort. We got six, one wearing a ski mask. You get the idea. As a police colonel said later: “Al-Qa’ida [is] still here, they are a nuisance, to me personally when I have to move around the city. But they are not what they were.”

Violence in Syria ongoing despite UN monitors A car bomb exploded in central Damascus on Tuesday, Syrian state television reported, as the tentative ceasefire in the country was further tested. Three people were injured in the attack in the center of the city, the report added. “An armed terrorist group detonated the car bomb near the Yelbugha complex in the Marjeh district of Damascus, wounding three people and causing damage to nearby buildings,” the television said. The Syrian capital has been the scene of several car bombs in recent months that have mainly targeted security officials. The blast came as the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said violence across the country killed nearly 60 people on Monday, despite a fragile ceasefire that went into effect April 12.link to english.al-akhbar.com

UN observers to stay in Homs as Annan urges peace Two UN observers set up base in Homs on Sunday, their spokesman said, as peace envoy Kofi Annan urged both sides to respect the fragile truce in the country. The spokesman, Neeraj Singh, said other members of the eight-member advance UN team of observers mandated to monitor the April 12 ceasefire were pursuing field visits elsewhere in the strife-torn country. “Yesterday (Saturday), the UN advance team visited Homs where they met with the local authorities and all the parties,” Singh told AFP.

Salamah Kilah arrested in Syria The lousy repressive Syrian regime has arrested Syrian-Palestinian Marxist leftist writer, Salamah Kilah (who writes in Al-Akhbar). I got word (based on his wife’s account) that his house was searched by security thugs of the regime and that computers were confiscated and they said that he would be returned in the morning.

Syrian ‘revolutionaries’ blame Gulf states of corrupting their revolution “…And there you have it. As Khouri notes, there’s now a new group called the “Security Cooperation Forum” linking the US with the Gulf Cooperation Council. La Clinton turned up to assure the oil states of Washington’s “rock solid and unwavering commitment” to the GCC. Now where have we heard that before? Why, isn’t that what Obama is always saying to the Israelis? And weren’t Bibi Netanyahu of Israel and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia the two guys who called Obama to ask him to save Mubarak? And in Syria – where the Qataris and the Saudis are all too keen to send weapons for the rebels – things are not going very well for the revolution. After claiming for weeks a year ago that “armed bands” were attacking government forces, the bands now exist and are well and truly attacking Assad’s legions. For many tens of thousands who were prepared to demonstrate peacefully – albeit at the cost of their lives – this has become a disaster. Syrian friends of mine call it a “tragedy”. They blame the Gulf states for encouraging the armed uprising. “Our revolution was pure and clean and now it’s a war,” one of them said to me last week. I believe them…”link to friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com

Sabra Market: Short of Syrian Goods The name of the Sabra area in Beirut will always be associated with the horrific massacre that took place there during the Israeli invasion in 1982. Sabra’s popular market makes this struggling neighborhood one of the most crowded and liveliest in the Lebanese capital. Stepping into the market, you will be surprised by the varied scenes, most of which feature deprivation, neglect, and chaos. Various goods are displayed on the pavement or in stalls and shops. They are everywhere and fill every corner so that no space is left unused.link to english.al-akhbar.com

Media Scoundrels Promote War on Syria, Stephen Lendman Syria’s a battle zone. Western generated violence is to blame, not Assad. America’s media scoundrels claim otherwise. They want him ousted by any means, including war. An April 9 Wall Street Journal commentary said “Syrian government forces (keep) bombing and killing….” Assad “reneged on (his) promises to end the bloodshed.” Washington “and its allies (are) doing little or nothing to depose (his) regime. (The) illusion of diplomatic progress serves as cover for the Assads of the world to do more killing. Your move, President Obama.”link to sjlendman.blogspot.com

Jordan editor charged with anti-regime incitement A Jordanian news website editor was charged with anti-regime incitement on Monday, a prosecutor said, after he published allegations over a graft probe into a US$7 billion project. “Jamal Muhtaseb, chief editor of Gerasa News, was charged with incitement against the regime today,” the military state security court prosecutor told AFP without elaborating, speaking on condition of anonymity. The news report published the same day quoted an unnamed MP as claiming that “lower house deputies had received ‘royal directives’ not to indict a former minister for alleged graft.”link to english.al-akhbar.com

Libya: Central government must protect Kufra residents from militia clashes The Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) must take steps to ensure that residents in the south-eastern city of Kufra are protected from reckless fire and receive immediate access to medical care, Amnesty International said amid renewed clashes between armed militias. Fighting broke out in Kufra on Friday between armed militias after a Tabu man was killed by unidentified assailants. There have been 10 fatalities and more than 30 people injured, say local residents and medical professionals.

Libya: NTC must investigate death of another Tawargha man under torture The Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) must act immediately to investigate and prosecute abuses against the Tawargha community of black Libyans, said Amnesty International today, after another Tawargha man was tortured to death in a Misratah detention centre. The body of 44-year-old father of two Barnous Bous’a was delivered to his family on 16 April. It was covered with bruises and cuts, including an open wound to the back of the head. Barnous Bous’a was a civilian who fled his home in Kararim in western Libya during the armed conflict, settling in Sirte.

Jailed Saudi activist will not appeal due to legal ‘bias’ The lawyer for a Saudi activist sentenced to four years in prison for supporting pro-democracy groups said on Tuesday there were no plans to appeal the sentence, stating the country’s legal system was biased. A secret court in Riyadh last week sentenced prominent Saudi rights campaigner Mohamad al-Bajadi to four years in prison, sparking international condemnation. Bajadi was detained in March 2011 after voicing support for families demonstrating outside the Interior Ministry in Riyadh to demand the release of jailed relatives.

Muslims discriminated against for demonstrating their faith European governments must do more to challenge the negative stereotypes and prejudices against Muslims fuelling discrimination especially in education and employment, a new report by Amnesty International reveals today. “Muslim women are being denied jobs and girls prevented from attending regular classes just because they wear traditional forms of dress, such as the headscarf. Men can be dismissed for wearing beards associated with Islam,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination.https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/

“Our steadfast pursuit of a freer Saudi Arabia” A must-read, and courageous, letter from Saudi Arabia by Waleed Abu Alkhair in WaPo: Every week, I am host to several dozen people at my home, most of them politically engaged Saudi youth. I started the salon after government and religious authorities clamped down on gatherings of liberal youth in cafes and bookstores in the wake of Hamza’s arrest, severely constricting the space for free expression in this city. The oppressive trend has accelerated as religious hard-liners have mounted a vicious campaign to cleanse society of what they deem “unbelief” and “deviant thought”: in reality, any ideology different from their ownlink to www.arabist.net